“I still don’t see how this is my fault,” Rucille said with a pout as she folded her arms. “How did the guards let a bunch of girls run off with her in the first place?”

“Mind your manners,” Kromald replied with a frosty tone. “You’re in the presence of the king.”

Rucille’s eyes flicked over to the man who sat on the throne at the top of the stairs, but her expression remained the same. She was annoyed, and the king sitting around in the same room as her certainly wasn’t going to change that. If she really thought about it, he was the reason why she was so annoyed in the first place anyway. Not only did he oversee the Royal Guard who had utterly failed to do their job which resulted in her precious research subject escaping, he then had the nerve to call her to the Royal Court at daybreak which was when her usual nap was due to commence.

She was already furious when she learned that Nina had disappeared from right under her nose, but once she had been accused of being the main culprit in what was already considered a national disaster, she was livid. She initially thought that killing the researcher who had told Kromald about her discussion with Nina would have helped her cool off, but watching him squirm under the needle before his face turned purple hadn’t helped her at all. Now, of all things, she had to sit through whatever useless complaints the family heads had about the situation. Words weren’t going to solve anything, so why didn’t they focus on action?

At least the Royal Court itself was interesting. Rucille didn’t get many opportunities to walk around in the castle, so even if this visit was for all the wrong reasons, she was still trying to enjoy what she could. The long rectangular room had a shiny wooden floor with a thick red carpet on top of it which ran down the centre of the room. After snaking its way up the fifteen or so shallow stairs to where the throne sat, it fanned out behind it in a swirling pattern across the floor. The large wooden throne itself was framed by a backdrop of burgundy curtains which hung behind a giant metallic Zaffre Family Crest, and all together she had to admit that the scene was quite imposing.

It would have been more imposing of course if there was more than just the twenty odd people that currently either stood or sat around the giant room, but the sensitive nature of the meeting resulted in most of the floor space being empty. Even the viewing balconies that ran between the ornately decorated white ceiling and the large glass windows on each side of the room were devoid of people, and the resulting silence in the cavernous space was almost unsettling.

While there was only a few of them, the people called to the emergency meeting were surprisingly from three very different groups of people. First was the smattering of Zaffre family members who sat on chairs behind the king which included the first, second, and fourth princes. Selius, who had helped Rucille capture Nina in the first place, was one of them. Currently he watched her with an amused expression as though he could see through the mask on her face, and the fact that he could easily see the frustration that she was hiding irked her further.

At least it didn’t frustrate her as much as her father did right now. Seated off to the side among the seven most influential family heads which formed up the second of the groups, he had been quick to lash her with criticism in front of the other nobility. Rucille thought that he should have been shielding her from blame by placing the fault onto the Royal Guard, but instead he seemed very eager to distance himself from her in order to curry favour with the king.

“You revealed the details of a top secret project to an outsider,” a balding man with a thick moustache who sat a couple of seats over from her father pointed out. “And then you let her escape.”

This time she didn’t bother to hide the sigh that escaped from her lips as she rolled her eyes. She had already said the truth on who was at fault, and there was obviously no point repeating it if they weren’t planning on listening. How such a useless group of people ended up in charge of the plate escaped her, but there was little that she could do about it besides ignore them for now. All they were good at was taking credit for the work of others while they lived a life of luxury, so how would they know what to do?

Any form of common sense, it seemed, was absent.

Insulting the Royal Guard once more was also a poor idea for a completely separate reason. She wasn’t sure why, but apart from herself who stood at the front of the pack, the rest of the third group in the room who had been summoned to stand with her were all members of the Royal Guard. There were only six of them present and they were all around her age, but Rucille could already see why these particular guards had all been called. Generally third, fourth, or fifth sons, each and every one of the guards who stood around her was directly related to someone who currently sat with her father.

“Silence,” the king finally said as he raised a hand. His voice wasn’t loud or powerful, but it didn’t need to be considering that there were so few people in the room. With crinkles at the side of his weathered blue eyes and shoulder length brown hair which featured the occasional streak of grey, Rucille could see a lot of similarities with Selius despite his smaller frame. Unlike the neat formal dress that the majority of the nobility liked to wear, he instead wore a simple burgundy robe with a golden sash around his waist that matched the jewellery which dripped off his fingers. Rucille didn’t have much of an opinion on the king, but not that many people did in the first place. His array of sons already took care of the majority of his business, and as a result he could live a sheltered life in peace away from the public eye.

“Travelers from above have learned of our secret plan to protect ourselves from SuTSU invaders,” the king said slowly as he looked over both Rucille and the members of the Royal Guard which stood at the bottom of the stairs. “If SuTSU was to learn of this plan, they would undoubtedly launch an all-out offensive against us to crush our livelihoods before our day of safety could arrive. Zaffre, and all of us with it, would be destroyed.”

The lack of surprise from the people around her indicated that they had already been briefed, so Rucille instead turned her consideration to where the king’s speech would be going. There was no use crying over spilt milk, she thought, and following Nina to the plate below was taboo. The best outcome she could hope for was that the king would somehow manage to find her a replacement research subject so that she could finish her work before SuTSU came knocking.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“After consultation with the family heads,” the king continued as he casually waved his hand to the group of people where Rucille’s father was sitting. “We have together decided that in order to protect our great city, we will need to do the unthinkable.”

Rucille suddenly felt her heart begin to race.

“For generations we have protected what we have,” the king said as he stood up. As soon as he did, everyone who had been sitting down in the room immediately shot to their feet as quickly as possible with respectful gazes. Rucille and the Royal Guards were already standing, and now the king stared down at them with a strange light in his eyes.

“Too big a group and it will be evident to the outsiders that something is clearly amiss,” the king said steadily as he took turns to lock eyes with each member of the group who stood around Rucille. “Word of what has happened cannot spread past our eight great families, and hence you have been selected to be our hope… to restore peace to our city by soothing this newfound turmoil in our hearts.”

We’re actually going, Rucille thought to herself as she tried to stop the corners of her mouth twitching upwards into a grin.

“Selius Zaffre,” the king said without turning to face his son.

“Father.”

“You will lead the expedition to the plates below,” the king said. “Your mission is to eliminate every member of The Cloud Orchestra, and if they have fallen into the hands of the SuTSU forces, you are to eliminate them as well. Word of what we are planning cannot reach The Skywall. Once it has, all will be lost.”

“As you command.”

Rucille’s expression turned from a grin into a troubled expression. Clearly Selius hadn’t thought that the king would order one of his own sons to take part in such a dangerous mission, and neither had she. Selius becoming her superior was not something that she wanted to happen, and despite her burning desire to travel to the plates below, she didn’t want her experience to be marred by such a restriction.

“Your majesty,” she said as she quickly corrected her posture before bowing slightly. “May I ask why I have been selected for such an important task? Frankly, I am unskilled in combat and am worried that I will bring the rest of the team down.”

Seeing that the king paused for a moment, she smiled inwardly. Any mention of jeopardizing the mission would surely cause the king to have second thoughts about her selection. If she could get out of this now, she could hopefully convince the king to let her travel on her own later. Once the rules were already broken, they could never be truly mended. Maybe she could pretend that she had suddenly discovered some important information after they had left and selflessly volunteer to take it to them.

“Father,” Selius said before the king could come to a conclusion. “Rucille not only has some of the most detailed book knowledge on the seven plates, she also knows our targets better than anyone here which I believe will be the key to tracking them down. While she may not be as useful in combat as the rest of the team, surely the knowledge she possesses will prove to be a vital asset.”

The king couldn’t see Selius’ smirk as he was standing behind him, but Rucille certainly could. He knew exactly what he was doing and she certainly wasn’t happy about it, but all she could do right now was smile at the ‘compliment’ and hope that the king had other ideas.

“Your foresight is admirable,” the king said as he turned to face Selius, missing the grin on his face as it was quickly replaced by a serious expression in the process. “I agree with your analysis, Rucille will remain on the team.”

Rucille sighed inwardly but could do nothing but flash the king a polite smile. In her head, however, she was already running through what she would be doing as soon as they left the plate. Selius probably thought that she would roll over in defeat now that she had been confirmed on the team, but she knew that the seven plates were something bigger than he could have ever imagined. Sitting in the castle for days on end would have left his mind narrow, and Rucille didn’t mind taking advantage of that.

Once they had left the plate, who would truly know what actually happened?

“The castle will provide anything you need for the mission,” the king said as he looked out over Rucille’s group once more, pausing for a moment when he saw that a thin grin had appeared on her lips. “You have an hour to prepare, time is of the essence.”

About to disperse, the group was suddenly stopped by the first prince who cleared his throat for the first time during the meeting. Rucille didn’t know much about him, but it was rumoured that he didn’t get on with Selius or any of his other siblings either for that matter.

“Remember, everyone in this city is relying on you to complete your mission,” he said with a smile as he looked directly at Selius. “Come back with their heads or don’t bother coming back at all.”